And did it make you think again about the "Slammies?" (Yeah, I know, that name belongs to wrestling.) I also saw a little of the Adult film awards on cable late last night. Come'on folks. Slam is 25 years old this year. PSi is 14. Isn't it time to step up?

I don't know what Slam Poetry awards get us as a community. Movies, TV Shows, and Broadway plays have awards shows because they don't have tournaments. Sports teams have tournaments.

1. Boxing doesn't have an awards show. Boxing has championship bouts, and the guy who doesn't fall down during those bouts is generally acknowledged to be the champion.

2. College basketball (men's and women's) doesn't have an awards show, either. The best teams compete in a huge, single-elimination tournament.

Awards shows, in my opinion, would dilute the impact of our three established tournaments: WOWPS, IWPS, and NPS. I foresee one of two outcomes:

1. St. Paul wins the National Poetry Slam and St. Paul's team wins a "Slammie" award for "Best poetry team." People see us heaping awards and praise on a group of people who are already having a pretty good year.-or-2. St. Paul wins the National Poetry Slam and Las Vegas's team wins a "Slammie" award for "Best poetry team." People perceive some powers-that-be conspiracy to undermine what the judges thought at NPS.

Nah, I'm just stirring shit. If we were a sport, I'd see no reason either. I think the people who win the emmies, grammies, greenies and meanies are all having pretty good year too. We are so much more than a "sport." And...well, I'll let ya'll chew on it a while.

I've looked for this quote, and I can't find it on a simple Web search, but I have a clear memory of reading it in an interview of Peter S. Jackson (directed Lord of the Rings): "Award shows are strange to me. I mean, if you grow up wanting to be a professional sprinter, you know that you need to run faster than everybody else. I grew up wanting to make movies, so I knew I needed to reach out to everyone else so we could collaborate. So now we've been nominated for these awards and I'm supposed to sprint faster than all the people whom I'd like to collaborate with."

Aren't camaraderie, legacy, recognition, fun, and joy the putative reasons this community has three big events every year?

Also, wasn't this esteemed organization very hard-pressed to produce those three events just two years ago? Even as a kiddie poet up past his bedtime, what I heard through the heating vents told me the grown-ups in this house were worried about money. Two years later we have the money, manpower, and mojo to add a fourth big event?

I mean, I certainly hope PSI is in great shape. But if all the newfound coin is burning a hole in our 503(c) pockets, let's bring back the summer slam camp before we start giving ourselves trophies. Build the community from the bottom, not the top.

You either have a very finite vision of what an award show might consist of. What if it were web-based? What if it were one night at the home of Slam? What if it were a streaming event? What if it were more party than "show"? Now sure how much money it takes to do those things, but what if? What if? What if?

Personally, I think a little camaraderie, legacy, recognition, fun and joy aren't things you can get enough of. (And I don't think our events celebrate legacy enough, by the way.)

And we're already working on the viability of Poetry Cross-Training Camp.

If I may also add, since you raise the issue of organizational solvency and turnaround: I would think, as a member, you'd be glad that those who work to make all of this happen were able to pull us out of a place of distress and get us to a place where we can once again brainstorm about award shows and camps in real time and not a possible, maybe, don't-know future tense.

If I may also add, since you raise the issue of organizational solvency and turnaround: I would think, as a member, you'd be glad that those who work to make all of this happen were able to pull us out of a place of distress and get us to a place where we can once again brainstorm about award shows and camps in real time and not a possible, maybe, don't-know future tense.

We did a local version of this in MN in the past specifically for slam. I've heard of other scenes doing their own as well. There was a also on MN Spoken Word Award that featured a number of Slammers. Award shows are fun but Someone would have to step up and organize it but I'd say if you build it they will come.

We're instituting awards here for the first time this year. We're trying to put together an awards night soon. Our awards are for different categories: Best Rookie, the Beauty Babo award (for most innovative poem), the Vlad E Vostok award (for someone who's on the stage most every time but hardly every wins), and the Spirit of the Slam award, going to someone who tirelessly supports the scene whether they're a poet themselves or not.

The debate here on this forum is similar to a few conversations we've been having. i.e., We already have a first, second, third, fourth and fifth for Team Finals and we have IWPS and WOWPS reps so what's the point of awards? I think we need to give out awards to highlight other people without whom our slam would be incomplete. The poets win, sure, but winning poets aren't the entirety of any slam scene, I think you'd all agree.

As a side note, the Vancouver Poetry Slam crest that some of you have seen on t-shirts was originally created by Spelt and myself to honour a 'Vanguard' of eight Vancouver poets who had been slamming since the nineties and helped get this scene going. People who started it and kept it alive when it was in it's struggling infancy. Elder gods, if you will. We're a weekly slam that brings in an average of 100 people every Monday but it wasn't always like that. There were some tough, tough times in the beginning.

I think we all agree that it's important to recognize the contributions to the community that don't have anything to do with scoring. This is one way to do it. I understand the reasons put forth here for not having awards but I think it's a good idea to maybe get some going. Hypothetically.